Sunday, August 29

It is made clear in the Quran and the Sunnah that for an action to be a righteous action and for it to be acceptable to Allaah, the One free of all imperfections, and one which draws a person close to Him, then it must fulfil two important conditions.

The first is that the intention of the person doing must be sincerely for the sake of Allaah.

The second is that it must be in accordance with what Allaah, the Blessed Most High, prescribed in His Book and what His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) explained in the Sunnah.

If one of the two conditions is absent then the action is neither a righteous action nor is it acceptable. This is indicated by the saying of Allaah, the Blessed and the Most High:

"...So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Lord, let him work righteousness and associate none as a partner in the worship of his Lord."

(Surah Al-Kahf: verse 110)

So He, the One free of all imperfections, orders that the actions should be "righteous", that is in accordance with the Sunnah. Then He orders that it should be done purely for Him and not for any incentive. Al Haafidh Ibn Kathir said in his tafseer: "These two things are the two pillars of an acceptable action, it must be done purely for Allaah, and done correctly in the manner prescribed in the Sharee'ah of Allaah's Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم)." This is also reported from al-Qadee 'Iyaad, rahimahullaah, and others.

Saturday, August 28

So this Ramadhan I've been getting to know my arab neighbour from the apartment next door, Sr B.

It all started the night before 1st Ramadhan when I first knocked on her door - considering to this point i'd only ever heard her voice through the wall speaking in arabic or laughing.

So anyway I took her some dates, and she and her husband were very appreciative mashaAllah...2 days later she made some coconut sweets and sent them over...

And so the exchanges continued...every couple of days, I'd make something or she'd make something and send it over...

Thing is she doesn't actually speak english...so the communications a tad limited...anyone got any suggestions?

The other day mashaAllah she was returning my plate and gave me this wonderful looking dessert, may Allah reward her in abundance. Check it out:

Lil' chocolate chewy sweets with a chocolate cheesecake type thing...

So anyway now all my work colleagues are itching to have Muslim neighbours....Talk about thinking with your stomach! Anyway the point of this post is that I feel blessed to be able to share things like this with my Muslim neighbours....it's rare to find people so caring mashaAllah - let's hope it carries on far beyond this blessed month....not just for the food exchange!